TAX REBATE CONFUSION CONTINUES ACROSS ERIE COUNTY

My office continues to receive calls from taxpayers that received rebate checks from Erie County. It’s real.  It’s not a scam.  The Poloncarz Administration made a mistake calculating your property tax bill.  You wound up paying too much.  We are getting flooded with calls and emails asking if these checks are real, if they’re legitimate. Indeed, they are.  More than likely it’s not going to be a lot of money.  Usually $5 to $20 dollars.  That being said, we need you to please cash it.  Some folks are sending them back to my office.  Please don’t. This Poloncarz Administration mistake is already costing more than $200,000 to fix it.  It will cost even more to send the check twice.

The check coming to your mailbox will look similar to this, except your name and address will be typed/printed right on the check, unlike the example below:

The impacted communities include: the cities of Buffalo, Lackawanna and Tonawanda, as well as the towns of Alden, Amherst, Aurora, Cheektowaga, Clarence, Elma, Evans, Grand Island, Hamburg, Tonawanda, Lancaster, Orchard Park and West Seneca. There are nearly 200,000 of these checks being mailed over the next few months. 

The top of the check, under DESCRIPTION, reads: SBL Refund-CC Chargeback Overcharge

If you have a question or concern, please use the Hotline or direct email address created by the Department of Real Property Tax Services:

• Hotline – (716) 858-6954
• Email - EC-Taxrefund@erie.gov

Additional information about this issue can be found here: OFFICES OF COMPTROLLER AND COUNTY EXECUTIVE WORK COLLABORATIVELY SENDING TAX BILL REFUNDS